Social Media

Pope Knocked Down at Mass [YOUTUBE VIDEO]

What are the hottest topics on Twitter, YouTube and social media sites this Christmas Eve? While "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays" are trending high, a full 0.83 percent of Tweets at 5 p.m. ET tonight mentioned the word "Pope".

Pope Benedict was unfortunately knocked down by a woman before the Christmas Eve mass — he was unhurt, and completed the ceremony. Of course, we can rely on user-generated content to capture such remarkable events. In this case a bystander with a cellphone caught the moment on film while the TV cameras were pointed elsewhere.

It's only the latest in a string of events — from the Hudson plane crash early this year, to the passing of Neda in Iran — where people on the ground captured shocking moments the media would otherwise have missed.

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